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Friday, April 24, 2015

Jazz crooner Steven Davis releases “What Happened To Romance,” his first big band album

Bolstering the belief that romance is always en
vogue, crooner Steven Davis plies his big voice backed by a big band on the
swinging set “What Happened To Romance,” a charming meditation on love marrying
timeless traits from another era to today’s passionate demand for originality.
The 14-track disc comprised of a dozen original songs penned by Davis and The
88s’ Josh Charles and Alissa Moreno – the duo that produced the outing – will
be released June 23 by the vocalist’s First Second Records and serviced to jazz
radio for airplay.

The
Nashville-based Davis trekked to New York City to record “What Happened To
Romance” with The After Midnight Orchestra featuring original members of the
Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands. Fully ensconced in the retro spirit,
Davis belts out amorous overtures and enchanting dreams with debonair elegance
amidst cascading melodies and groovy rhythms punctuated by the lush horns
arranged and conducted by Andy Farber. Completing the collection are faithful
interpretations of Johnny Mercer’s swooning “Day In, Day Out” and Irving
Berlin’s rousing “All By Myself.”

The
album’s playful escapade “Perfectly Perfect” is the sublime soundtrack to a
television commercial for Centralway Numbrs, a mobile banking application in
Germany. “We are
using the template of the Great American Songbook writers to create new music
that hopefully will stand the test of time. I love this music because it allows
us to tell these stories and I like the nuances of this style. There is a
certain sense of altruism that appeals to me,” said Davis, who will introduce
his throwback sound to new audiences by playing unexpected places for a big
band jazz singer such as a June 19 gig at the popular singer-songwriters’ haunt
Molly Malone’s Irish Pub in Los Angeles. “Maybe I’m old fashioned when it comes
to romance, but it will always be there even though the world has changed so
much and is so different now. What happened to romance? It’s the same question
we keep asking ourselves. The answer is different for each one of us.”

The
charismatic Davis was invited to perform at the prestigious I Create Music
ASCAP Expo in Los Angeles on May 1 and at the Durango Songwriters Film/TV Expo
on May 15 in Ventura, California.